NEW YORK—“You can fight for what’s right wherever you are. But you have to be alive to do it.” So says a character in Joshua Harmon’s powerful drama, “Prayer for the French Republic.” Previously seen at the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) off-Broadway, the show is now at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre—MTC’s Broadway space.
The play begins in 2016, in Paris, France, an unlikely time and place for anti-Semitism to be on the rise. This fact hits home for psychiatrist Marcelle Salomon Benhamou (Betsy Aidem) when her adult son Daniel (Aria Shahghasemi) is attacked. Horrified by what happened, Marcelle is angry at Daniel for calling attention to his religion by wearing a yarmulke when outdoors.
As a child of a Holocaust survivor, yet not raised in a religious household, Marcelle’s desire to not make waves is one she shares with her brother Patrick (Anthony Edwards). However, Marcelle became more observant when she married Charles Benhamou (Nael Nacer). Originally from Algeria, Charles and his family came to France when he was a child to escape religious persecution.
In the days following Daniel’s attack, Charles realizes he no longer feels comfortable in the country he has long called home and announces his wish to move to Israel. He may not always be safe there, but at least he'll no longer be in the minority when it comes to his religion. However, Marcelle does not want to consider leaving France, where her family has lived for generations. But, there’s also the matter of her elderly father Pierre (Richard Masur), the last blood relative still involved in the family’s venerable piano business. Neither Marcelle nor Patrick chose to follow in his footsteps.
As these events play out, the story shifts to the closing months of World War II, where Marcelle and Patrick’s great-grandparents (Nancy Robinette, Daniel Oreskes) wait out the conflict in their Paris apartment. The two often engage in exercises of denial as they envision the day their family members, taken away by the Nazis, all return home.
A bedrock element of the show is the importance of staying true to what you believe. Daniel has no intention of being driven from his home country. As he sees it, to do so would allow those who attacked him to win. Pierre will not leave Paris either; the family business and what it represents are far too important to him.
Familial bonds and the need for families to stick together in times of crisis are other themes this show explores. Just what should one be loyal to is often seen differently by those of different generations.
The play is so engrossing, one doesn’t feel the passage of time. It’s impressive, considering the mountain of material the cast has to work with. Indeed, there is enough here for at least two separate plays. What we do get are the strongest elements from the different narratives. They’re all expressed by fully formed characters who are passionate in their positions.
Aidem, as Marcelle, is the standout among the cast. She’s a woman who does her best “to get along in order to go along” in response to events she cannot control. That works until an event forces her to confront exactly what she has tried so hard to avoid. As she searches for a way to keep her family safe, she transforms from someone calm and reasonable to one completely terrified.
Molly Ranson is quite good as a distant American cousin who views the proceedings from an outsider’s perspective, yet manages to make some very important points. Her frequent verbal sparring with Elodie (Francis Benhamou), Marcelle and Charles’ somewhat manic daughter, and her interactions with David, provide some of the show’s lighter moments. Despite their frivolity, they are no less touching or insightful.
Edwards does well as Patrick, who also serves as the show’s narrator. Narrating allows him to supply historical and familial information that ties the different storylines together. Masur gets to impart some words of wisdom as the elderly Pierre, while Robinette and Oreskes offer their own lessons in survival as they try to maintain normalcy while the world burns down around them.
David Cromer directs the play with a sure hand, allowing the individual scenes to fit perfectly into the bigger whole. The show does feel a bit less intimate than it did at its prior off-Broadway setting, but it still hits all the right notes.
